Brinjal Cilantro (Vankaya Kottimera Kura)

An authentic Andhra dish to be eaten with Sona Masuri rice or sorghum roti, this superb recipe came with high recommendation from Lakshmi chinnamma. She has been following my vegetable harvest updates and when she saw the fresh and familiar brinjals, she highly recommended I cook this recipe and I did. What a joy it was to rediscover the forgotten taste. Chinnamma, you are my muse, thank you.

Brinjal and Cilantro

Brinjal Cilantro (Vankaya Kottimera Kura)
(for one or two meals for four to two)

    8 palm-length, fresh and firm pinkish mauve colored brinjals
    2 cups, finely chopped fresh cilantro leaves
    4 green chilli, Indian or Thai variety, finely chopped
    1 tablespoon, grated fresh ginger
    1/4 teaspoon, turmeric
    1/2 teaspoon, salt or to taste

    For tadka: 1 tablespoon, peanut oil and
    from masala dabba: tadka ingredients (cumin, mustard seeds and few fresh curry leaves)

Brinjal: Fill a bowl to half with water. Add a teaspoon of salt and mix.
Remove the ends and cut the brinjals lengthwise thinly and then crosswise to about one-inch length pieces. Drop the pieces into salted water. This old-Bharath technique is to prevent brinjal bitter-browning.

Cilantro: Take cilantro leaves, chillies and ginger in a mixer or mortar. Add a pinch of salt and blend them to coarse paste. (Or, if you prefer, skip this step and add the three ingredients as they are.)

Brinjal-Cilantro: Place a wide skillet on stove-top and heat. Add oil and when oil is hot, add and toast curry leaves, a pinch each – cumin and mustard seeds to fragrance. Add brinjal pieces. Sprinkle turmeric and salt. Cover the skillet partially and cook the brinjal pieces to soft on medium heat. Add the cilantro paste at the end. Stir-fry for few minutes until the home is filled with wonderful cilantro scent.

Serve Vankaya Kottimera Kura warm with rice or roti and dal or dahi. Soft brinjal pieces with rich, jari like cilantro accent taste spicily silk. Imagine an edible Dharmavaram silk. This could be it.

Vankaya Kottimera Kura (Brinjal-Cilantro Curry)
Vankaya Kottimera Kura ~ For Meal Today

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15 Responses to “Brinjal Cilantro (Vankaya Kottimera Kura)”

  1. RV says:

    This looks so homie…

  2. Minu says:

    The recipe is great, liked the Dharmavaram analogy even better!

  3. Anu says:

    Oh my God, I have to comment on this! I love this curry, Mom used to make it all the time. She called it “Vankaya Kottimeera Karam” due to all the chillies and ginger that goes into it.

    It is an easy preparation, but one that requires restraint, it is very easy to overcook the eggplants. I dont wander away from the stove when I make this one.

    Another of my Mom’s recipes with eggplants (Mamidikaya vankaya pulusu): 1 onion sliced, 1 mango cut into small pieces, 1 long Japanese eggplant cut in a similar fashion to above recipe. Popu – menthulu, rai, 3-4 slit green chillies, curry leaves. The menthulu are key. Combine onion and mango pieces with a few cups of water and bring to boil. When they are a half done, add eggplant, turmeric and a little sugar. Let it cook a few more minutes and turn off the stove. Let is stand for a few minutes as the eggplant continues to cook. Its delish!

  4. lalitha says:

    Wow. Tasty vankaya curry, we do make almost same but we add in seasonig chana dal,urid dal too, next step,one onion, peas after that vankaya. I also add some fresh coconut with chilli paste. nice curry.

  5. Kay says:

    wow! what an amalgam of tastes! Can’t wait to try this one soon. Indira, where else does this combo of cilantro+ginger+chillies work?

  6. Kanchan says:

    This looks to delicious !
    Adding cilantro as one of the major ingredient always excites me.
    I’ve been following your blog for couple of weeks, I love your harvest posts and also such innovative dishes !

  7. kalva says:

    mom add coconut to this curry. lovely one

  8. Manjula says:

    I tried this few days back.. n it turned out to be wonderfully tasty! I had never loved brinjal like this before..Thanks for sharing Indira 🙂

  9. Swati Sawant says:

    Wow. will try it soon

  10. Shoba says:

    Indira,

    I love cilantros and my husband loves eggplants…This looks so yum and simple. Its almost like eggplants cooked in cilantro pesto sauce…he he …am making it this weekend.

    Shobha

  11. usha says:

    Loved your recipe…was wondering if you have any recipes for making stuffed vankaya…the reason I am asking you is that your recipes are easy to follow, use minimal ingredients and are fool proof. Thanks for sharing your recipes.

  12. Prasanna says:

    Love this recipe ….Especially when my mother cooks this

  13. Anusha says:

    Ive made this curry twice already since I saw it – and it is made brinjals extremely palatable! very nice.

  14. Varsha says:

    This will be my lunch tomorrow. I like your baingan recipes, simple, quick and yummy.

  15. Varsha says:

    Tried it, loved it…will be a regular in my kitchen now.

    Although I used half the amount of coriander and chillies. The Chillies I use are very hot, even with 2 spicy and 1 mild chilly the hubby found it spicy!

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